Page 22 - Time Out Abu Dhabi

THE TALE OF A T A

American olmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson welcomes us

to the twisted world of Phantom Thread

ike the couple in a particular Californian director who brought modern-day It feels like a love letter to the city, but it
dysfunctional nursery rhyme, classics There Will Be Blood, Magnolia and doesn’t we never see much of it.
Phantom Thread features the most Boogie Nights to the big screen, sips on a tea It occupies that twilight fairy-tale land that
off-kilter pair to grace our screens and recounts the story behind his strange tale. hovers just above reality. The reality would
in several moons. There’s Daniel have been a bit darker, a bit dingier, a bit more
L Day-Lewis’ Reynolds Woodcock – a This is your first film set or shot outside bombed-out, but there’s so much ground to
vain, controlling dressmaker who hates noise at California. What came to you first: the idea cover with these characters that taking time out
breakfast – and newcomer Vicky Krieps’ Alma, or the location? to do the wide establisher, title card “London,
a strange, fearless life-force who couldn’t care Backing up before that, I’d been actively 1955”… We’ve seen that enough. Without it, it
less for his routines. Welcome to the fractured, searching for something to do in the UK for a starts to feel more authentic.
fascinating world of Paul Thomas Anderson’s while. It’s inherently cinematic, particularly for
latest gem. Not quite as manicured as his latest a period piece. Initially, I thought we’d Àlm in Vicky Krieps is an incredible discovery. She
alpha male protagonist but still looking pretty Cornwall – Daphne du Maurier country – but it has a very unusual on-screen energy.
dapper in a suitably hushed hotel suite, the turned out how it turned out. She gives good stare. She can neutralise her
22 January 31 – February 6 2018 timeoutabudhabi.com